McLeish expects no favours

Jon West
Wednesday 01 October 2003 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Rangers manager, Alex McLeish, says that his mentor, Sir Alex Ferguson, cannot be an ally in his quest for Champions' League success.

McLeish was a key player under Ferguson for Aberdeen and Scotland and is still in regular contact with the Manchester United manager. The two sides are about to engage in a double-header, the centrepiece of a Champions' League group which also involves Stuttgart and Panathinaikos, the Greek side who provide the opposition for Rangers here tonight.

McLeish warned that while they might swap notes occasionally, each manager had only his own club's interests in mind. He said: "I don't think Alex Ferguson will be worried if Rangers qualify or not. His remit is to get Manchester United through. They are clear favourites in the group and the other three teams are battling for second spot.

"So it is not about Alex Ferguson and Alex McLeish ganging up on the other two teams. Far from it. It is about looking after your own bit."

He added: "We are expecting a very, very difficult game. They played an away game against Man United and were turned over, but Man United could do that to anybody.

One factor which might work in Rangers' favour is the late kick-off time of 9.45pm, Athens being two hours ahead of Britain. McLeish said: "It is synchronised with the rest of the Champions' League games, so that is the main reason, but of course it won't be so hot."

The Rangers manager believes his own players' attitude to be the most important single factor on a night when a draw at a stadium where Manchester United and Real Madrid have failed to win in previous seasons would be a good result. "We bring players in with big [a big-game] mentality and good technique," he said.

The Rangers captain, Craig Moore, is set to start for the first time in six weeks after recovering from a hamstring injury and that could see Zura Khizanishvili pushed into a midfield role.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in